Onwards Through Oregon

We'd done Portland, the Historic Columbia River Highway, mountains and waterfalls. Time restrictions had left us unable to go inland to Hells Canyon, so only the Oregon coastline remained. Most of our travel in the Pacific Northwest had been on Highway 101, and we greeted it again like an old friend. It runs along most of the west coast of America but we only planned to take it as far as the start of Highway 1 in California, for as it goes south it becomes a busy commuter router. In Oregon, however, it hugs much of the coastline. And the coastline is worth hugging.

Our first stop was Lincoln City, a small coastal town which, back in 2000, developed one of the most innovative ways I've ever heard of to mark the new millennium. Seven miles of beaches make Lincoln City a popular place for beachcombers, especially during winter, after storms and very high tides. The prize finds have always been colourful Japanese blown-glass fishing floats, which have made their way across the Pacific. These are becoming increasingly rare as they're no longer used, even in Japan. So, Lincoln City decided that it would randomly scatter 2000 replica floats, hand-blown by local artists, along the beaches over the winter months. A few everyday (weather permitting), at different times and in different locations. The Float Festival has now become a tradition, with one extra float being added to the total each year. We scoured the beach but, alas, if there were floats around at the time they eluded us. We did, however, find a couple of harbour seals playing in the shallows.

We sat and watched them for a while - they were surfing the waves where a small river hit the water. Lincoln City also has an epic skate park. Really, Daniel looked like a kid in a candy store. This thing was so gnarly I was worried he was going to break an arm just by looking at it (or climbing all over it despite it being wet and thus slippery).

Luckily his limbs are all still intact, but he's talking about taking up skating again... We'd been planning to stay in a treehouse at a place called Treesort (no kidding), but we soon worked out we weren't going to make it before sunset - there was simply too much to see and do along the way. There was also a burning truck blocking the road - apparently American cars don't only catch fire in the movies.

We got a pretty good view and some awesome footage - should have sold it to a local news station. Slightly sad that we weren't going to be sleeping in a treehouse, we pulled up stumps at a place called Gold Beach, just north of the California border.